First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
House Speaker Mike Johnson has told his staff he will not run for House minority leader in the new Congress, stepping aside from the top Republican leadership post after Democrats won control of the House in the Nov. 3 midterms. He announced the decision on a staff call on Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, first reported by Punchbowl News and confirmed by members of his staff.
Johnson is NOT leaving Congress: voters in Louisiana's 4th District re-elected him Tuesday with 58% of the vote in a five-candidate field, per unofficial returns reported by the Shreveport-Bossier Journal. What he is giving up is the leadership job itself.
The decision reverses the position he signalled before the election: he had told CBS News that if Republicans lost the House he expected colleagues would ask him to continue leading the conference even in divided government.
What happens next: House Republicans plan leadership elections on Nov. 10; Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan are expected to vie for the post, with Jordan already calling colleagues, per Fox News Digital reporting. Democrat Hakeem Jeffries is in line to become speaker when the new Congress convenes in January.
In a statement posted overnight, Johnson acknowledged the midterm outcome "is not what we'd hoped and fought for" and vowed Republicans "WILL take back the House."
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